1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to interactive television, and, in particular, to recording and playing back interactive television programs. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method, and program for recording and playing back presentable data accessed though interactive links displayed by an interactive television program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Interactive television is a video and audio technology that allows a user to interact with television programs. Interactive television involves broadcasting television programs containing links to networked information, such as web pages, that a viewer may selectively access. Examples of interactive television include web TV, Internet access, video on demand, and video conferencing. Web TV allows a user to view a web TV program, and while viewing the web TV program, activate links to the Internet or World Wide Web embedded in the program to retrieve and display web pages associated with the links. A web TV program generally is received utilizing an interactive television set-top box, which is a device that converts a broadcast television signal into an input video signal for display by a television set. The set-top box also allows a user to access and view pages of the World Wide Web through an interactive television communication device, such as a modem device, coupled to an interactive television communication line, such as a telephone or cable television line, that provides networked access to the World Wide Web. The set-top box converts and displays the broadcast television signal to display web pages on the television.
To record interactive television programs, a video recording device, such as a video cassette recorder (VCR), is typically interposed between the set-top box and the television set. When the VCR is set to record a television program, the VCR records the data of the web TV program, which may be in Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) format, for later display on the television set. The existing recording technology also allows information viewed on the television screen that resulted from the user activating links to networked information (e.g., web pages) to be recorded. However, existing VCRs cannot record the networked information for any links that were not displayed or viewed on the television screen. Existing VCRs consequently do not allow the viewer to interact with a recorded television program in the same way as a live broadcast program since existing VCRs do not record the data associated with any links in which the associated data were not displayed by the television set. For example, the viewer uses the VCR to record a television show having links to the World Wide Web. When the viewer plays back the web TV program on the VCR, the viewer may activate a link within the recorded web TV program being played back on the television set. The VCR will then access or attempt to access through the set-top box the web page (e.g., web address) on the World Wide Web associated with the activated link. In addition, when the displayed within the web TV program may have changed or may no longer exist.
Therefore, the present invention recognizes the need to record and play back interactive television programs in a manner that more closely resembles the programs during the original broadcast. In particular, the present invention recognizes the need to record and play back presentable data accessible though interactive links that are displayed within an interactive television program.